Nonunion Educators Organization Applauds U.S. Supreme Court Decision to Review Idaho...

Nonunion Educators Organization Applauds U.S. Supreme Court Decision to Review
Idaho Voluntary Contributions Act

SPOKANE, Wash., March 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Northwest Professional
Educators (NWPE), Idaho's only nonunion professional educators organization,
applauds the United States Supreme Court for granting review of the Ninth
Circuit's decision invalidating Idaho's Voluntary Contributions Act (VCA)
(Ysursa v. Pocatello Education Association).

Originally passed in 2003, the VCA is a law that prohibits payroll deductions
for union dues for certain purposes, including political activities.
Challenged by the Idaho Education Association, the law was ruled
unconstitutional by the state's high court.

Currently, teachers are obligated to pay for the state and national unions'
political activity with general union dues in order to exercise their local
collective bargaining rights as members of a local National Education
Association affiliate. Refusing union membership on political grounds
deprives teachers of their collective bargaining rights even though they must
abide by the collective bargaining agreement.

Connie Prow, NWPE member in Bruneau-Grandview School District, stated in a
declaration supporting the VCA, "The Voluntary Contributions Act gives us the
chance to have a say and not be intimidated into belonging to organizations
that do not represent all that we stand for."

Cindy Omlin, Executive Director of Northwest Professional Educators, stated,
"We are grateful that the United States Supreme Court has taken this case.
Without the protection of the VCA, hundreds of dollars are taken from union
teachers' paychecks that are directed to state and national political activity
that runs afoul of teachers' beliefs and interests. Teachers should have the
right to engage in local collective bargaining without having their paychecks
picked for unrelated state and national union politics."

Northwest Professional Educators is a nonprofit, non-union, professional
educators' organization focused on students as educators' highest priority and
improving the professionalism of education. NWPE welcomes educators of any
education entity including teachers, administrators and support staff, and
provides members with liability insurance, legal services, professional
development resources, teacher scholarships/ classroom mini-grants, and a
voice on education issues. NWPE is an affiliate of the Association of American
Educators. http://www.nwpe.org

SOURCE Northwest Professional Educators

Cindy Omlin of Northwest Professional Educators, +1-800-380-6973,
info@nwpe.org